Regal and other theatres pull "The Interview"

We're all outraged at the hacking of Sony Pictures; and we'll all concerned with the national security implications; and we're all expecting the government to launch some form of cyber retaliation or to increase sanctions on North Korea, which they say is behind the hacking, but …

… is making a movie about the assassination of the living, breathing leader of a nation – even that nation – ever a good idea?

One of the best movies of the 1970s was called "Day of the Jackal," which told the story of an assassin plotting to kill Charles de Gaulle, the president of France. When the movie was released, however, de Gaulle had been dead for three years.

In 2009 director Quentin Tarantino released "Inglourious Basterds," the fictional story of U.S. soldiers in World War II on a mission to assassinate Nazi leaders, including Hitler. The war had been over for more than 50 years.

There was a British film in 2006, a "mockumentary" (fake documentary) called "Death of a President" about the fictional aftermath following the assassination of George W. Bush.

It was an awful idea (and I don't recall that it did great a the box office.) But Bush was still in office, and it's not as if a president already is threatened by innumerable kooks.

Still, the U.S. didn't launch a cyber attack on the filmmaker's company.

News reports indicate that the attack on Sony, conducted by hackers calling themselves "Guardians of Peace," was the worst ever attack on a company in the United States and that North Korea is behind it.

Embarrassing emails were released, and other company documents, and there were threats, which caused Sony to cancel the release of "The Interview," a comic film that is said to culminate in a scene depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

As Eric Talmadge, the Associated Press's North Korea bureau chief put it, "If the U.S. government's claim is correct that North Korea was involved in the unprecedented hack attack on Sony Pictures that scuttled Seth Rogen's latest comedy, no one can say they weren't warned. The movie, 'The Interview,' pushed all of North Korea's buttons.

"No country would welcome a movie portraying the glib and graphic assassination of its leader.

"But nowhere could it be expected to generate more official outrage and possible reprisals than in North Korea, home to the world's most intense cult of personality, where even the hint of criticism of the ruling Kim dynasty can mean a long stint in prison and where it's a serious offense to merely crumple up a newspaper with any of the leaders' images."

The Sony attack is a wake-up call to the vulnerability of the Internet – for all of us.

It's a national security issue.

It's also a free speech issue.

Lots of American entertainers have made fun of Kim Jong Un.

We get to say what we want to say in this country. And we should defend that right with all of the weapons we possess – technological and otherwise.

But how about a little common sense along the way?

I like a goofy slapstick comedy as much as the next guy.

But killing the head of state of another nation?

Not funny.

jeffbr wrote: »

backseatLover12 wrote: »

You do. Because you think that you can imply a message whether offensive or not, and hide behind the "it's a movie" excuse. There's messages everywhere, regardless if they're in a fictional movie, an advertisement, or in a joke (or anywhere else for that matter). And this one just happened to be about the death of the wrong guy.

Actually it is about the death of the right guy. Are you telling me we can't say anything or do anything here in this country that might offend that crazy little piece of shit? Why are we worried about the dear leader's feelings? Sony doesn't speak for us anyway. Had Sony actually released the movie, we could have agreed or disagreed with their decision by choosing whether or not we saw it.